Less Than You Deserve (Job 11; Romans 15)

“Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves,”  Job 11:6

I once was given a wonderful gift from a group of people in whom I would speak at their lunch meeting about once a month.  The presenter of the gift said, “Receive this token of our thanks for all you have done.”  He went on to comment, “The gift is far less than you deserve.”  The kindness of this man and these people was far more than I deserved.  The fact is, “Every day of my life, I was and still am receiving more than I deserve as a follower of Christ.

In the book of Job we read of a viewpoint that is the flip-side of this truth.  Job has been lamenting the brokenness in his life.  Job is suffering as one who is innocently suffering for the glory of the Lord according to R.C. Sproul.

But here is chapter 11, one of his friends says just the opposite of this.  He believes Job is getting less than what he deserves.  This belief seems extremely harsh in the fact that this is one who knew Job very well.

Job’s friend believes Job is living in unrighteousness.  He believes the following:

1.  Job was trying to talk his way out of judgment, Vs: 1-5

2.  Job did not understand the depths of God’s judgment, Vs: 6-12

3.  Job needed to repent of his sin and seek to live in righteousness, Vs: 13-18

Here are words that cause me to tremble, “If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away, and let no injustice dwell in your tents.”

Think it through:

How can any man put his sin far away from himself?  The truth is, we are all guilty of being sinners and we are receiving less than we deserve when God removes the sin debt by the payment of Jesus Christ (II Cor. 5:21).

Job’s friend believed that Job must establish his own righteousness, whereas God knows that our righteousness is established apart from our effort.  “Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Jesus Christ, in order to be justified by faith in Jesus Christ and not by works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.”  Gal. 2:16

I would agree with Job’s friend, “We are getting less than we deserve.”  But I would also agree with Paul, “we are getting far more than we deserve.”

Spend time praising him for what you have discovered today!!!